“Rustic” Cabins…

(I wrote this this morning but our kind neighbours w/ the unsecured internet connection must have turned their computer off…)

I’m not totally sure what the definition of “rustic” is. Crude. Maybe not the most modern. OK, outdated. But who cares? Rustic can be charming. Rustic can be cozy. Rustic can by home.

Our cabin at Zephyr Point is all of the above. It’s comfortable, charming, homey. So what if the furniture is from the 60’s? I can get by w/ separate hot & cold water taps in the bathroom sink. The shower reminds me of the one from our trailer – I can barely turn around in it. I have no idea if I would have fit in it 50 lbs ago! The shower head barely reaches my shoulder, but it has hot water. I’m happy to supply my own linens. This is a Presbyterian conference center, after all, & not a resort. I really don’t mind cleaning the cabin before we leave, altho I’m not really looking fwd to it.

There were some things we had to put up with… Two-prong outlets throughout the house, w/ either sawed-off three-prong plugs or the 3rd prong just hanging out of the old extension cords. One lamp’s cord just had the wires stuck in the plug; another one popped (exploded?) when Rich tried to unplug it. Our deck was scary shaky; the glide rocker just about fell apart when we sat in it. All minor inconveniences, which Maintenance, much to their credit, promptly addressed once we brought it to their attention.

But there is one little item that I’m having a hard time “writing off.” We are sharing our cozy, rustic dwelling w/ a mouse. He’s a cute little guy, but he poops on our counter. He took a bite out of our rubber scraper, and evidently didn’t like it, b/c there was a mouse-sized bit of rubber scraper next to it. He makes things go bump in the night, including my heart.

When we alerted the office about our housemate, they said, “I don’t know what we can do about the mouse. We have a bit of a mouse problem here.” Nice to know. But there was no evidence that they even tried to do anything. They fixed the leak under our sink yesterday, but no evidence about the mouse. Especially since we saw him run across the living room into the bathroom last night.

Oh, we also found a cockroach last night. I saw something crawl under the microwave. Good thing Rich used to live in Venezuela & has experience w/ cockroaches.  I think squishing the mouse in a paper towel would be more difficult & more messy than the cockroach.

We’re getting used to storing our cereal & dry goods in the oven & our bread & fresh fruit in the fridge. We thawed our pork chops in the microwave yesterday. No power, but a mouse-proof part of the house. Last night I laid awake in bed wondering if we could move to a hotel or something, but we only have 2 more nights here.

Out of the blue, Rich just said: “I’m glad mice are nocturnal. I would hate to chase him around all day.” Indeed.

I dunno. I’m pretty disappointed w/ ZP. I understand the nature of the place, but this has been a pretty special location for our family. Both my parents have a sweet history here, both separately & together, having managed it, as a couple, from 1958-1960. We were going to bring Mom here this week, but it was just too much for her. I think it’s probably for the best that she didn’t come. We’re wondering how she would have handled the whole mouse thing.

It’s very sad, but I think this is our last stay at ZP.

On another note, I Photoscaped some photos this morning. Here are the results:

This is a 2-page spread of our drive from Medford to Tahoe:

 
That’s Mt. Shasta in the upper right, & Burney Falls in the lower right. The mtn in the rear-view mirror is a lava dome (?) near Mt. Shasta.


Mt. Lassen in the lower left.  We didn’t clue in to actually stop for the “Welcome to (insert state name here)” signs ‘til we got to Nevada. But 3 states in one day. If this was Canada, that would have taken us a week! LOL

Sunset at Zephyr Point, Tuesday, June 23
Lower left is “Robin’s Flight,” a potentially butt-kicking flight of 175 or so stairs up the hillside. Upper right is the amphitheatre where they hold vespers & stuff. There are 4 of those pillars there. I really don’t know why there are 4 since the Trinity has 3. Only 3 fit in this lay-out anyway. :-)